Watch stocks you care about

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Protalix BioTherapeutics (NYSE: PLX) plunged today by as much as 20% after the company and Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) jointly announced that the European Medicines Agency, or EMA, opposed marketing of the company's drug for treating Gaucher disease.

So what: Regulators gave the drug a positive risk-benefit assessment, saying that the benefits of the medicine outweighed the risks in treating Type 1 Gaucher disease. However, the agency could not recommend marketing authorization because another company's competing drug has marketing exclusivity in the European Union for 10 years from the time of its authorization in 2010.

Now what: Protalix and Pfizer are disappointed by the decision, but the silver lining is that the agency assigned a positive risk-benefit assessment and the subsequent overall recommendation was not related to the safety or efficacy profile of the drug in question. The two companies entered into an agreement in 2009 to develop and commercialize the drug. It was approved domestically by the FDA in May.

Interested in more info on Protalix BioTherapeutics? Add it to your watchlist byclicking here.

Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

Doesn't this just mean that PLX will not get royalties from PFE? The number of patients in Europe is not much, so the lost revenue is very little. Most patients are in Israel where approval is pending and this is not shared with PFE. PFE gave PLX 25 million for a milestone payment. Your article is a rehash of the PR, you didnt bring anything new in it.

Report This Comment

Sending report...

Evan is a Senior Technology Specialist at The Motley Fool. He was previously a Senior Trading Specialist at a major discount broker. Evan graduated from the University of Texas at Austin, and is a CFA charterholder.
Follow @TMFNewCow